LONDON — In a sharply worded written statement issued by the Sikh Federation (UK), a copy of which is available with the Sikh Siyasat News (SSN), the organization has raised serious concerns regarding the Canadian government’s handling of questions surrounding transnational repression ahead of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s four-day trip to India.

The controversy follows a recent media interaction in Mumbai where Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand was repeatedly questioned by reporters. According to the release, Anand failed to clarify whether she agreed with unnamed Canadian officials who stated on Wednesday that Prime Minister Carney would not be traveling to India if the Indian government was still involved in political interference, violence, and transnational repression targeting Sikh activists and businesses.

The Sikh Federation (UK) characterized the media interaction as a “car-crash interview,” noting that Minister Anand “failed to answer one simple question with a yes or no.”

Jaspal Singh, Lead Executive of the Sikh Federation (UK), highlighted that the Canadian government possesses substantial information regarding these ongoing threats. The statement emphasizes that “Anita Anand knows there is plenty of evidence and intelligence held by the RCMP and CSIS that political interference, violence and transnational repression remains a serious and real threat in Canada.”

The Sikh advocacy group warned that this failure to clarify the government’s stance will inevitably put Prime Minister Mark Carney in the hot seat. According to the release, the “missed opportunity by Anita Anand to set the record straight now guarantees Canadian reporters will pose the same question to Mark Carney at the press conference on Monday unless a written statement is urgently issued to clarify the false statement made by Canadian officials.”

Concluding the statement, the Sikh Federation (UK) asserted that Minister Anand’s “reputation has been severely damaged as it would have been much easier to distance herself from the naïve comments by Canadian government officials.”a